For coverage of the American Music Masters tribute concert to Chuck Berry, go to cleveland.com/music after 11 p.m. Saturday.

Lemmy Kilmister was a little groggy.

"Sorry," mumbled the bassist and founder of Motorhead in the kind of voice that comes only from either a lifetime of chugging Jack Daniel's and belting out heavy metal or feasting on gravel. "I fell asleep. Living the lifestyle, rock 'n' roll forever, right?" he said, punctuating his sentence with phlegmy laughter.

The late-afternoon-but-early-morning-to-everyone-else voice is hardly one you'd expect to associate with a musician influenced by an 86-year-old tall, skinny black dude from St. Louis who throws down blues riffs and sings about ding-a-lings, country boys and Beethoven. But you'd be wrong.

Chuck Berry, who will be honored tonight by Kilmister and other artists in a concert at PlayhouseSquare's State Theatre, is one of the hard rocker's heroes. That Berry has been an influence on such diverse artists as Darryl McDaniels of Run-D.M.C., Ernie Isley of the Isley Brothers, Rick Derringer of the McCoys, David Johansen of the New York Dolls, "hillbilly filly" Rosie Flores and country legend Merle Haggard is a testament to the reach of the son of the St. Louis deacon.

Kilmister has only one response for those who wonder how the man who arguably is the father of metal could have anything in common with the man who INARGUABLY is the father of rock 'n' roll:

"They would think that because they don't remember Chuck Berry," said Kilmister, a legendary spendthrift speaking by phone from the digs of his $1,000-a-month apartment in Hollywood.

"Given each generation's blind stupidity, they think that if it didn't happen for them, it didn't exist," said Kilmister.

"Also, they think I'm their age, which is a TERRIBLE mistake," said a laughing Kilmister, who will mark his 66th birthday on Christmas Eve.

Though most people can sing Berry's almost signature opening blues riffs, Kilmister said he's underrated as a songwriter.

" 'Little Queenie' and 'Run Rudolph Run' are very good stories," said Kilmister. "He was always telling you stories. It's as much American folk art as it is rock 'n' roll."

"He influenced my guitar-playing, and he influenced my songwriting," said Haggard, calling from his tour bus in "a very desolate area" in New Mexico, en route home to California after a gig back East earlier this fall.

"The songs he's written, I used in nightclubs before I had my own songs," said the Hag, who is a decade younger than Berry. "And he's influenced a lot of people over the years.

"He does what I call talk-sing," Haggard said. "If you were to read the lyrics, they would make sense. A lot of times, other songs that sound great with a melody don't sound that impressive when they're read. 'Memphis, Tennessee' sounds like someone talking to you."

Haggard is such a Berry fan that at one time, there was a move afoot for the two to tour together.

"Back in the '70s, this promoter had the idea of me and Chuck touring together across the United States with the intention of bringing the races together," Haggard said. "I called him and asked him and he said he would, but the thing never developed."

Of course, there's still time. Berry tours from time to time, and Haggard, despite a recent health scare, does several dates a year.

"We're AFRAID to retire," Hag said, only half-jokingly. "If we retire, everything goes away, who we are and what we do goes away. We'd dry up, and they'd bury us."

California-born rockabilly artist Rosie Flores -- whose nickname is "the Hillbilly Filly" -- said she popped up on the Rock Hall's radar as a potential performer when she performed at the museum in a tribute to rock pioneer Janis Martin. Martin, who died in 2007, was known as "the Female Elvis."

"[The Rock Hall] got to learn that side of me and they said, 'You'd be perfect for this,' " said Flores.

"What they don't know is that when I first started playing guitar when I was 16 years old, the first song I learned to play was 'Johnny B. Goode,' " she said. "I STARTED with his style."

Her first influence was her brother, Roger, who taught her to play rhythm guitar so he could practice his leads, Flores said.

"I took to it really easily," said Flores, 62. "After that the Beatles came out, then the [Rolling] Stones. I became a big fan of Keith Richards because he was influenced by Chuck Berry."

Flores is excited about the chance to perform with Berry at tonight's show.

"I got to see him when a friend of mine in San Diego backed him," said Flores. "That would have been in 1971. He was on fire. I talked to the band afterwards, and they told me he doesn't tell you the key you're in; you gotta know what songs he was doing."

Some might have a problem with that, but not Flores.

"If Chuck Berry wanted me to learn the song, I'd learn it and just follow him," she said.

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